The Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Analysis Of Ovis Ammon From Goukou Site In Jirentai,Xinjiang Province

Goukou Site in Jirentai,Xinjiang Province is a site of the late Bronze Age settlement with important research value in the Ili River Basin.Its huge site,complex layout,and rich relics provide extremely valuable information for exploring the chronology and content of the prehistoric archaeological culture of the Ili River Basin,as well as the early exchange of Chinese and Western cultures.A comprehensive and detailed study of this site will help us understand its cultural heritage better.Archaeologists have unearthed a large number of animal remains,mostly cattle,horses and sheep,and there are also a few wild animal remains of unknown species.These wild animal remains provide a new window into ancient residents' diet structure,hunting methods,economic mode,and other important issues.We collected nine unknown species remains from Goukou Site.In this study,we carried out ancient DNA analysis to identify their species.We successfully obtained five mitochondrial complete genome sequences form 9 samples.We also downloaded 42 mitochondrial genome sequences from Genbank database,including argali and other species for comparison.The NJ,ML and Bayes phylogentic tree based on mt DNA whole genome show that all ancient samples were grouped into argali(Ovis ammon),and the cytb analysis also showed the same result.The results suggest that the ancient residents living in Goukou Site adopted an enconomic model of combing agriculture and animal husbandry,and handled mature hunting techniques for food supplement.The Bayesian skyline plot(BSP)show that the ancient argali underwent a population expansion after 3300 years ago,which may be directly related to human activities.With the progress of production technology,people have gradually reduced the proportion of hunting for food,leading to the increased population of maternal Ovis ammon.